SPRING PRACTICE PERIOD: Stories from the Lotus Sutra

Dogen-Zenji so cherished the Lotus Sutra that he actually carved a selection of it into his door. This, the core text of not only Zen but the whole of Mahayana Buddhism, has never lost its appeal among practitioners of the Way. Join us for our SPRING PRACTICE PERIOD: Stories From the Lotus Sutra led by Sensei Joshin Byrnes, Sensei Genzan Quennell

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EDITOR'S NOTE

"When Ryokan was begging in the highway station town Tsubame, a child with a sheet of paper came to him and said, 'Rev. Ryokan, please write something on this paper." Ryokan asked, 'What are you going to use it for?' 'I am going to make a kite and fly it. So, please write some words to call the wind.' Right away, Ryokan wrote four big characters, 'Sky above, great wind," and gave the calligraphy to the child."

—from Anecdotes of Zen Master Ryokan by Yoshishige Kera, quoted in Sky Above, Great Wind: The Life and Poetry of Zen Master Ryokan by Kazuaki Tanahashi

Amidst freshly fallen snow and the ever-blue New Mexican sky at Upaya, we prepare to welcome scholar and translator Sensei Kaz Tanahashi and author and teacher Natalie Goldberg to teach this weekend with Roshi Joan Halifax in a celebration of the life and poetry of Zen Master Ryokan.

In this issue, we hear reflections from Rev. John Dear, on his ongoing pilgrimage in South Africa to bear witness to the remarkable history of the struggle for nonviolence and justice in that culture.

Claire Sykes tells the story of the remarkable Jizos for Peace project, of which Sensei Kaz was an instrumental and visionary part. This was an effort by which communities in the U.S. created thousands of images of Jizo, the bodhisattva committed to emptying the hell realms of all who suffer there, to honor those killed in the bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki and offered them to people in Japan.

Roshi Bernie Glassman provides his opinion on the word "tradition," stating a preference for the Jewish word mishegass.

Hardcore Zen author/blogger Brad Warner, who will lead an upcoming sesshin this month with Sensei Kaz, documents an experience he calls 'the Iguana Effect': "The iguana was being bothered by something behind him, something too big for him to fight. So instead of turning around and biting the giant anthropoid who was pulling his tail, he went after the smaller thing in front of him. We all do this all the time. It's hardwired into the reptilian portions of our brains."

And in an interview, Sam Senko Watts reflects on his participation in the Resident Program and the Nepal Nomads Clinic, and the way this training is leading him onward in life, guided by principles of kindness.

Áine McCarthy, Editor

THIS MONTH AT UPAYA

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Dharma Talk, Daily Practice

DHARMA TALK

WEDNESDAY, February 5 at 5:30 pm: Natalie Goldberg, Buson: the Great Japanese Haiku Writer

DAILY PRACTICE

7:00 am, 12:20 pm, and 5:30 pm. Please arrive five minutes early for sitting periods and events. Park in the East parking lot (Second driveway — the one farther from town.)

Please note these changes to the regular meditation schedule: there will be no midday meditation session Feb. 8-9, 14-16; 18-23. There will be no 5:30 pm zazen on Tuesday, Feb. 18.

ROSHI JOAN: News, Teachings, Travels

Roshi Joan is in retreat at the Refuge until Upaya's upcoming weekend on Ryokan with Kaz Tanahashi and Natalie Goldberg. Heavy snow, deep quiet. Roshi is reading Ryokan, keeping her woodstove going, and taking the silence seriously.

We are accepting applications for Upaya's resident program. Please consider joining Roshi, Visiting Teachers, and Upaya for three months or more of dedicated practice and learning. By application, click here.

Roshi as well has a number of papers she has written on compassion. If you wish to receive a copy, please write the office: upaya@upaya.org

For several new videos of interviews with Roshi Joan on Upaya's Blog, click here.

Roshi Joan started a Google+ Community and more than 2000 people have joined so far. Click here to join.

Roshi now has five new books available for sale at Upaya: Four are photography books — "Seeing Inside," "About Face," "Original Face: Unmediated Expressions of Tibet, Nepal, Burma," and "Leaning into the Light." "Lone Mallard" is a book of her haiku. In addition, over a hundred of her remarkable photos are available to look at (and purchase) on Upaya's website:https://www.upaya.org/seeing-inside/

A Mindful Balance: An interview with B. Alan Wallace

What did the Buddha really mean by “mindfulness?” B. Alan Wallace describes how misunderstanding the term can have implications for your practice. Wallace is founder and president of the Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies, in Santa Barbara, California. Here he speaks in depth with Tricycle about what he considers an essential but widely misunderstood Buddhist practice: mindfulness meditation. Wallace argues that our poor understanding of the practice has profound implications for our meditation practice, and may very well draw us from the ultimate fruit of Buddhist practice—liberation from suffering and its underlying causes. The interview was conducted by email over the course of several months in 2007.

FEATURE ARTICLES

Jizos for Peace, Part 1: Claire Sykes

The ink-dyedsleeves of my robe- if only they were broad enough to shelter the poor.

—Ryokan, Trans. Kaz Tanahashi

Masahito Hirose remembers it well: "a strong, white-blue flash, ships burning in the port, another sun appearing all of a sudden." In his email to me from his home in Nagasaki, he describes the morning of August 9, 1945, at 11:02 a.m., when the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city. On the same day, in Chicago, Jan Bays came into the world. Now co-abbot of the Jizo Mountain-Great Vow Zen Monastery in Clatskanie, Oregon, Jan Chozen Bays (Chozen is her dharma name) says, "I realized I was led to become a Buddhist in the Japanese tradition partly because of the many people who died in Japan the day I was born." Six decades after the blast, a simple idea of Chozen's, sparked by the import she gave to the events surrounding her birth, has become an international mission called the Jizos for Peace Project.

Jizo is the Japanese form of Indian Kshitigarbha (literally "earth womb"), one of the most revered bodhisattvas in the Mahayana Buddhist tradition. A beloved and significant figure in Japanese culture, Jizo is usually depicted in the innumerable statues and shrines all over Japan as a monk in simple robes with shaved head. Jizo serves as the protector of the dead, especially of those souls in the hell realms, and of travelers in all realms. He has particular popular relevance as the guardian of all children - born, unborn, and deceased. "Jizo is also said to be the patron saint of lost causes," Chozen explains, "because Jizo never gives up." For this reason, she says, Jizo was the perfect symbol for "the seemingly hopeless cause of world peace."

With the Jizos for Peace Project, thousands of people - from twenty-five countries and every U.S. state except North Dakota - have created over 334,000 images of Jizo. Zen students, Christian congregations, neighborhood groups, children, and prisoners have rubber-stamped, traced, and drawn the Jizos onto thousands of cloth panels that are sewn into prayer flags, banners, and quilts. They join origami, wood, knitted, and clay Jizos in an August 2005 pilgrimage to Japan of thirty-five "ambassadors of peace" from Great Vow and other sanghas. The fourteen-day visit takes them to temples and Peace Day events in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, with Jizos for Peace displays there and at the Nagasaki Peace Museum. The Jizos are offered as an apology for the bombings, a memorial for the lives lost, and as prayers for peace in the future.Part 2 of this article will appear in Upaya eNews February 11.

Reflections on a Pilgrimage in South Africa: John Dear

In Johannesburg and Soweto (South Africa journey, part 1), January 24th, 2014

...The... day in Soweto was certainly one of the greatest days of my life. Our friendly young guide drove us through the collection of 18 townships, where more than 4.5 million struggle to survive. We saw the extreme poverty of squatter shacks; tiny buildings without plumbing, water, or electricity; and the many government-built homes for the poor. We also saw the homes of a few wealthy.

In 1976, Soweto became the center of anti-apartheid resistance when 15,000 high school and elementary students marched through its dirt roads to protest the forced teaching of the Afrikaans language. The white government opened fire on the youth, shocking the world. A block away from imprisoned Nelson Mandela's house, young Hector Peterson was the first of some 580 youth to be killed. Of course, the actual number of casualties was probably three times that amount, but no one will ever know. The photo of a youth carrying Hector's dead body flashed around the world, and suddenly, the entire planet saw the reality of apartheid for the evil it was.

Thirty-eight years later, there's a beautiful stone and water memorial near the intercession where young Hector was shot dead. It also commemorates all the dead and the youth who marched against apartheid. Interestingly, their protest had little to do with the ANC; it was inspired by Biko's call for "Black Consciousness." That protest and those martyrdoms were the beginning of the end for apartheid.

We drove down Vilakazi Street, the only street in the world with two Nobel laureates. After we passed Archbishop Tutu's house, we entered the tiny red brick house of Nelson and Winnie Mandela. Bought by Mandela in the 1950s, it was given to a Soweto trust 10 years ago and is now a national museum. I walked through the tiny house in silence and awe, looking at the artifacts, bare furniture, and countless plaques on the wall.

On one wall hung a 3-foot-long framed, hand-copied parish announcement from St. Augustine Catholic Church in Washington, D.C. Dated May 1983, it announced their support of the Mandelas and the church's efforts to end apartheid. Since Fr. Ray worked at St. Augustine, it was an overwhelming moment. Who would have known that such solidarity efforts meant so much that Winnie would have framed it and hung it on the wall?

Suddenly, outside, we heard a rumble among the handful of tourists and there she was -- Winnie Mandeliza-Mandela herself. I walked across the street and met her. She was dressed all in black -- still mourning President Mandela -- with a black headband and black-rimmed glasses. She greeted me with a big smile. I offered my condolences and my thanks for her life work for justice.

Then I told her how I wrote to her 25 years ago and enclosed the 150 letters from my students. Her eyes grew wide; she put her hand on her mouth and bent down to her knees. "You're him?" she asked with a huge smile. "Of course I remember you. How are you?" She asked me for copies of our correspondence for her archives, and I told her of my work against violence and war, my own time in prison, and of my friendship with Archbishop Tutu.

"I so hope you win the Nobel Prize, Father John! That would help the whole world so much," she said.

"I will pray for you," Fr. Ray said to her.

"Oh please," she responded. "I really need all your prayers." She radiated peace, love, strength and joy. We were overwhelmed by her gentle, loving presence.

The Iguana Effect: Brad Warner

Ever since I was about ten I've wanted to make my own monster movie. When I was a teenager I made a few with friends. When I was around 27 or so I got myself a VHS video camera and with my friend Dana Mitchell (now Dana Plambeck) I put together a script and started working on what I hoped would be a semi-professional film.

I made a miniature set of downtown Akron out of old laundry baskets (the square holes looked sort of like windows) and cardboard boxes and I discovered that a friend of a friend owned an iguana that he was willing to let me use in the movie. I took my little buildings, a bunch of Matchbox cars and my camera up to his place in Cleveland one summer afternoon and got to work.

At first the iguana was kind of lame. He just sort of sat there. The guy who owned him said, "I can make him bite the cars if you want." That was exactly what I wanted! So I asked him to do it.

The guy stood behind the iguana and pulled its tail. Whenever he pulled the iguana's tail the iguana would bite whatever was in front of him. It looked awesome!

I will never forget this moment, not just because it was so cool but because I learned something really important that day. Watching that iguana bite those cars I suddenly realized, "That's ME!" That is what I do all the time.

The iguana was being bothered by something behind him, something too big for him to fight. So instead of turning around and biting the giant anthropoid who was pulling his tail, he went after the smaller thing in front of him. We all do this all the time. It's hardwired into the reptilian portions of our brains. It happened to me very recently and I'd like to tell you about it.

Last week around Thursday I found out that one of my best friends, Logan, a guy I've known since high school, has stage 4 esophageal cancer. He lives in Portland and even before he was diagnosed I'd been planning to stay with him and his wife when the movie about me was shown up there. Amy, his wife, said we shouldn't cancel our stay at the house. She thought the company and the distraction would do Logan some good.

This was devastating news. Logan is two years younger than me and might have been the very first fan I ever had of anything artistic I did. I used to make a zine called The Reptile. I probably printed a dozen or fewer copies of each issue. It was your typical punk zine with stupid jokes and dumb cartoons, Xeroxed at the local Kinko's copy center. Logan was one of the few people who actually bought the thing. When I stopped making them he and a friend of his started putting out their own zine called Not The Reptile, which was actually a lot funnier and better produced than mine had been. I remember at the time I thought it was really touching they'd done that. But, of course, an 18 year old boy is never going to say that out loud to a couple of 16 year old friends.

Later on I moved into a house with Logan and his then-girlfriend Laura and another friend of ours named Steve. At the time Logan sang for a band called the Zen Luv Assassins. In those days I didn't usually tell people I was involved in actual Zen practice. I'm sure none of them knew I was often sitting zazen upstairs during their noisy rehearsals in the basement.

Anyhow, at almost exactly the same time as I learned that Logan had cancer someone in the comments section of this blog decided it was time to have a hissy fit over a wholly imagined slight he decided I'd given him. And I got to watch the Iguana Effect go into action big time.

Logan's cancer is huge and scary and there's nothing I can do about it. So all of the anger and frustration I felt about the diagnosis suddenly got trained upon this guy and his silly little screaming baby meltdown in the comments section. I didn't write anything about it here or confront him. But you should talk to some of my friends to see how much it upset me! I was ranting about it to anyone who would listen. And they were all telling me what I knew already, that it was nothing at all, that the guy was getting his panties in a twist over something that never even really happened, that I should just ignore it.

I wanted to bite that guy just like that iguana bit those Matchbox cars.

But I also knew that the Iguana Effect was very likely happening to him as well. There was probably something else in his life that he couldn't control and so I became the focus of all his anger and impotent frustration about whatever that might have been. As mad as it made me, I could see it for what it was and knew I had to temper my reaction accordingly. Even calling it a "hissy fit" and a "silly little screaming baby meltdown" here feels like a reaction more to my anger over what's going on with Logan than anything directed at the guy on the comments section. That guy probably doesn't read this blog anymore so I'm not all that concerned he'll see my description. But if you are reading this right now, Mr Commenter, please know that I'm just lashing out at my former housemate's cancer and not at you. Sorry about that.

Now some of you must surely be asking yourselves, "If Brad did all those years of zen practice and he still gets upset over things that don't matter, what the hell good is zazen?"

It's a reasonable question. It's one I had myself when I saw my teachers behaving like real people instead of like the kind of serene ethereal beings I hoped I could one day become. It shook my faith in the practice and made me wonder if it might be better to just give it up, or to look for something else taught by someone who really was an ethereal being made flesh - like the guys who advertise in the backs of all the meditation magazines. Surely they never get upset at anything! Look at those beatific smiles they always have!

But it doesn't work like that. Those reptilian reactions do not go away no matter how much meditation you do. Not even for those smiling guys in the backs of the meditation magazines. What you learn through meditation practice is how to stop believing them and how to stop feeding into them. This is relatively easy to do when the thing pulling your tail is not so big and horrifying, when its something like a bad day at work or fatigue or things of that level.

But when it's bigger and scarier than that, like a friend getting cancer or a pending divorce or stuff along those lines, the Iguana Effect kicks in much harder. You find yourself feeding into whatever minor and more controllable frustration sits in front of you like those Matchbox cars in front of that iguana. You'll even see yourself biting at it just like that iguana did and even understanding precisely what's happening and why, and yet still somehow doing it anyway.

All you can really do then is step back. Stop. Take a temporary vow of silence (I did this for about 24 hours). Do some more zazen. It'll be the most frustrating zazen you ever did. Even a 20 minute sitting will feel like it's going on for 47 years. But it will help. Trust me. It really will.

Merriam Webster Definition: a way of thinking, behaving, or doing something that has been used by the people in a particular group, family, society, etc., for a long time.

When I hear the word tradition used by Buddhist practioners, I believe they mean a practice that has been around for a long time as in the dictionary usage of the word. When I probe further, in my opinion, they are referring to a practice that was developed by their teacher or by their teacher's teacher.

In my case, my teacher, Maezumi Roshi, was considered very untraditional when I met him. His father was a well-established Japanese Soto Zen teacher and Maezumi Roshi spent his college years practicing Zen in a Dojo run by Koryu Roshi. Koryu Roshi was the head of the Shakyamuni Kai, a lay group of Zen teachers and students whose main study was koan study. Maezumi Roshi was also studying with Yasutani Roshi who founded the San Bo Kyo Dan a group of Zen teachers (both lay and ordained) that practices koan study, shikantaza and breathing practices.

Maezumi Roshi created many new forms of practice and also taught us the forms he learnt from his teachers. He constantly told me to create new forms of study that would be relevant in this time and place (western countries.) I believe that I have done that and have been labeled as untraditional. In my opinion, I have followed a tradition that I inherited from my teacher and from my genes.Coming from a Jewish heritage and founding the Zen Peacemakers Order of DisOrder, I love the Jewish word mishegass which Leo Rosten defines as:

1. An absurd belief; nonsense; hallucinations2. A fixation

I prefer to use mishegass instead of tradition when I hear folks talk about their Buddhist Tradition.After all, Shakyamuni Buddha is quoted as expressing the opinion that the only constant in life is that life is constantly changing.

Follow Kindness: An Interview with Sam Senko Watts- Part 1

Samuel Watts, given the dharma name Senko meaning "a thousand rivers," by Roshi Joan in March 2013, served as a resident at Upaya in the kitchen for a year and half. He joined in three pilgrimages with the Nepal Nomads Clinic, on the most recent of which he performed tooth extractions as an assistant to the dentist on the team. Now pursuing work as an EMT, Senko reflects on the formative training of these teachings and experiences.

How did you come to be a resident at Upaya?

My mother was in the Chaplaincy Program and I was watching her go through that process and the transformation that happened with her in her own life. I was very inspired by her. I had just graduated high school and spent a semester at Kripalu Institute doing an intensive program there and part of that was a meditation retreat with Noah Levine. I was very inspired by that experience as well as his book Dharma Punx. So my mom thought I would have a good connection with the then-caretaker of the Prajna Mountain Forest Refuge, Marty Peale. She had worked with her and was inspired by the way she was living and engaging the world. I ended up going to Prajna and spending a winter there participating in an apprenticeship with Marty as well as spending some time at Upaya. I did my first sesshin that winter and decided that sitting was something I wanted to continue to do in my life and that I wanted to be involved in this community.

Marty was an important mentor to me early on and before coming to be a resident I also did a wilderness fast with her up at Prajna. That experience was something that further led me to want to explore with Upaya and Roshi. I had read Shamanic Voices, Roshi’s book, early on and was interested in shamanism as well as Deep Ecology and Engaged Buddhism.Those threads came together in a meaningful way for me at Upaya.

So, you did all of that during college. You also went to Nepal for the first time before you were a resident, right? Tell me about that experience.

In school, I was studying a variety of things: Community Development, Anthropology, Environmental Studies; Conflict Resolution and Mediation. But … I was really interested in contemplative practice and religious studies and that wasn’t offered at my school, Bennington. There weren’t a lot of resources for people who wanted to practice that way- I found it hard to find a space for practice as well teachers, and mentors interested in these sorts of forms. So, Upaya and the people I was meeting out here became a significant source for that in my life, and out of that emerged my connection to Prajna and Roshi and the invitation to come along with my mom to Nepal to experience service work in this incredible pilgrimage context. Both Roshi Enkyo and Roshi Joan were inspiring teachers and leaders on that first trip.

So I imagine that also set the stage for coming to Upaya as a resident.

Yes, definitely. I was inspired by these people and wanted to be more like them, seeing the way they were in the world. I wanted to follow that adventure further and explore my curiosity further.

How would you articulate what you learned from this training?

The biggest take-away is this feeling of responsibility and personal integrity for myself and for my actions in the world. Having gone through the Jukai process those themes were especially highlighted for me. The importance of having a strong ethical foundation to work out from.

In the Chaplaincy program and the Jukai process there’s a point at which Roshi asks everyone to identify their North Star precept. This is a brief phrase or summarizing concept that encapsulates a core vow or ethic for you as you relate to living with the precepts. It was a spontaneous exercise, and what came out for me was very powerful and that was just, Follow Kindness. I’ve referred back to that personal precept throughout this past year since it arose and it’s become a way I check in with myself, how I’m relating to other people, to my environment; to my own inner self.

The most significant aspect of my training was the experience of daily sitting and bringing mindful attention into my relationships and my work practice as we’re encouraged to do for samu (daily community work). This practice has given me an opportunity to bear witness to my own mind and heart, and to cultivate an ability to rest with the breath, allowing me greater presence and wakefulness in my own life. I find myself to be more aware and creative in my ability to respond to my circumstance and to find, as Sensei Robert Thomas offered in one of his dharma talks this year, “an appropriate response,” a compassionate response. That’s a significant take-away for me and one that I personally think takes a lot of diligence and continual practice, continual refreshing, to be able to come back to and hold in your life. Also in the Jukai process I learned about the Threefold Training: three primary elements which are meditation, wisdom, and ethics and those three inform each other and deepen together. Without one of them the other two wouldn’t be as useful, they wouldn’t be able to take root.

What are the most memorable dharma books that you read during your time at Upaya?

The Wisdom of No Escape by Pema Chodron, Waking Up to What You Do, a book about the precepts by a student of Joko Beck’s. Roshi Bernie Glassman's Instructions to the Cook—very helpful in helping me to orient and for the idea of “using all the ingredients of your life,” A small book of the Four Noble Truths by the Dalai Lama—Roshi gave me that book to read at the beginning of my time. Taking the Leap, as recommended by our local healing arts specialist Susan Russell. Roshi’s Fruitful Darkness, which I read in Nepal. Open Heart, Open Mind by Tsoknyi Rinpoche. As well as the classic Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, given to me Shinzan Palma.

These talks, given by extraordinary Buddhist teachers such as Roshi Joan Halifax, Sharon Salzberg, Bernie Glassman, and many more, are offered to support your practice even if you live far away from Upaya.

Santa Fe Sangha Events

THURSDAYS (most), 9:20 am: Weekly Seminar, Upaya House living room - open to the public. Topic is usually related to the dharma talk of the evening before. To confirm that the seminar is happening that morning, please email temple@upaya.org.

THURSDAY, February 13, 5:30 pm: Fusatsu Full Moon Ceremony A traditional Buddhist ceremony of atonement, purification, and renewing of the precepts. Upaya holds Fusatsu every month, usually on the day of the full moon. Please join us in the temple for this beautiful ceremony.

SUNDAY, February 23: Dharma Discussion Group, Upaya House, 6:30 pm Please join Upaya's Local Sangha as we complete our study of the paramitas, or "practices of perfection" with an exploration of Prajna, or Wisdom. This discussion will be facilitated by Karen Strawn. The group meets informally from 6:30-7 pm at Upaya House with tea and cookies, with the formal program running from 7- 8:30 pm. We encourage participants to start by joining the residents for the 5:30 zazen practice. In March, we will begin an six-month exploration of the Buddha Families. All are welcome as we discuss, explore and further our practice.

Calgary, AB, Canada: Calgary Contemplative End of Life Care Practice Group. For professionals and volunteers working with people who are dying. Second Monday each month at Hospice Calgary's Sage Center, 6:30 – 8:30 pm. Sit starts at 7 pm. For further information, contact laurie.lemieux@hospicecalgary.com

NEW: Westbury, Wiltshire, U.K. This new group will hold its first meeting on Sunday, October 27th from 3-5 pm at The East Wing, 35 Church Street, Westbury, Wiltshire. For more info, e-mail Jan Mojsa, janmojsa@googlemail.com.